Sevenoaks Workstyle - Sevenoaks

Section A

Your Trustee Directors

BTPS has a corporate trustee, BT Pension Scheme Trustees Ltd, and this  company currently has nine Trustee Directors. In addition to the Chairman*,  there are four employer nominated Trustee Directors and four member nominated Trustee Directors on the board. 

*The Chairman is appointed by BT with the agreement of the recognised BT Trade Unions.

Click each photograph to read their biography.

Otto Thoresen (Chairman)

Appointment
Otto was appointed as Independent Chairman of the BT Pension Scheme Trustees on 15 February 2019.

Biography
Otto has extensive experience in pensions, financial services and consumer issues across a range of private and public sector organisations. 

Before starting his portfolio career he was director general of the Association of British Insurers from 2011 to 2015.  Previously he was chief executive of AEGON UK from 2005 to 2011. He was the independent reviewer of the Treasury Review of Generic Financial Advice – the Thoresen Review - published in 2008 which led to the creation of the Money Advice Service.  

Otto became Chair of NEST Corporation on 1 February 2015. He is also Chairman of the Board of Aviva International Insurance, and the Board of Aberdeen Asset Management’s Life subsidiary.

Chris Cheetham

Appointment
Chris was appointed to the Trustee Board on 16 September 2020.

Biography
Chris has over 40 years’ experience in the investment management industry and is Chair of the Mineworkers Pension Scheme, which has c.£12 billion of assets and 135,000 members.

Chris was Chair of HSBC Asset Management (UK) until June 2020. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Pension Protection Fund, a member of The People’s Pension Investment Steering Group and a Trustee of the Science Museum Foundation.

Nigel Cotgrove

Appointment
Nigel was appointed to the Trustee Board on 1 April 2020. He was appointed as a member of the Administration & Communications Committee and Discretions Committee on 1 April 2020.

Biography
Nigel was a National Officer of the Communication Workers Union for 31 years until July 2020. In that role he was the national lead for occupational pensions in telecoms, IT and financial service companies for two decades. This included negotiating on all BT pension issues such as changes to the BTPS; improvements to the Defined Contribution pension; and the creation of the Hybrid Pension. He was part of the Airwave Solutions DC Pension Governance Committee between 2007 and 2020.

Nigel has served on the Members’ Panel at the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) since 2016, and is also a Trustee of the CWU 2000 Defined Benefit pension scheme.

Nigel is a member of the CWU and the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners.

Emily Clark

Appointment
Emily was appointed to the Trustee Board on 1 April 2020. She was appointed as a member of the Investment Committee and Implementation Oversight Committee on 1 April 2020.

Biography
Emily Clark has been the Chief Economist of BT Group since 2016. Prior to joining BT, Emily was a Director at a City law firm providing economic advice and analysis on a range of competition matters particularly to clients in the technology, media, telecom and financial sectors.

Andy Kerr

Biography
Andy was employed by BT from 1975 to 2008. He served on the National Executive Committee of the CWU from 1997, was the President from 1999 to 2008 when he was elected to his current position as Deputy General Secretary (Telecoms and Financial Services). He is responsible for leading negotiations with BT on all occupational matters which has included pensions.

Andy is a former Trustee of the BT Retirement Plan, a Governance Committee member of the BT Retirement Saving Scheme and a Trustee of the NCU Staff Superannuation Scheme.

He has a pension from the BT Pension Scheme and is a member of the NFOP.

Ben Marshall

Appointment
Ben was appointed to the Trustee Board on 11 January 2017. He was appointed as a member of the Audit Committee and the AVC Committee on 18 May 2017.

Biography
Ben has been a trustee of a number of pension schemes continuously for over thirty years, and until his recent retirement was both chair of the General Federation of Trade Unions Pension Scheme and a member of the board of governance of the Steria Defined Contribution Scheme since its creation in 2010. He has also been a trustee of the BT Retirement Plan (now the BTRSS and now a GPP) and the Accenture AHRS DC scheme.

Ben was National Secretary of the Prospect Communications, Media and Digital Sector until May 2017. In that role, he was responsible for leading all negotiations with BT (and many other telecoms employers) on pensions on behalf of Prospect members. Before becoming a union official in 1984, he worked for the Post Office as an engineer. He has a pension from the Post Office Statutory Pension Scheme and is a member of the NFOP.

Keith Nichols

Appointment
Keith was appointed to the Trustee Board on 15 May 2017. He was appointed a member of the Investment Committee, the Administration and Communications Committee and the Audit Committee on 18 May 2017.

Biography
Keith was recently chief financial officer and member of the board of management at AkzoNobel N.V., where he played a key role in the sale of Organon BioSciences to Schering Plough and in the acquisition of ICI plc and its related pension liabilities. Prior to joining AkzoNobel in 2005, he held various senior finance positions across a number of industrial sectors for companies such as Corus Group plc, TPG N.V., WPP plc and BET plc. He is a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Beryl Shepherd

Appointment
Beryl was appointed to the Trustee Board on 1 June 2009. She is chair of the AVC Committee and a member of the Administration and Communications Committee.

Biography
Beryl has been employed by BT since 1978 and is currently a member of the National Executive Committee of the CWU, a position that she has held since 2002. Since 2011 she has held the position of chair of the Telecoms & Financial Services Executive of the CWU. She is an active member of the Scheme and a member of the NFOP.

David Viles

Appointment
David was appointed to the Trustee Board on 1 April 2020. He was appointed as a member of the Audit Committee and IDRP Committee on 1 April 2020.

Biography
David Viles joined BT in 2018 as Director of Risk, Compliance and Assurance. Prior to joining BT, David was a senior advisor in the risk management practice at Deloitte.